The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-08
THE BALD-kNOBBER.
sketch of the LawIs>s nhsbitsnts of
Christian County, Mo.

Il
New York World
The Bald Knobber's wife is am inter
esting figure in this unique neighbor
hood. She is not more energetic thar
her husband and not much more addicted
to soap and water. She has the care OF
a room in which six or eight people
sleep, eat. disrobe. smoke and spend their
time, so that the incentives to cleanliness
are not great. And what do these semi
civilized beings eat i'm their novels on the
hills? Pork. Pork is everywhere, on the
hills, in the valleys, in the yards and i'm
the parlOrs. 1t is the only meat the Bald
KnObber eats. As "A general rule the
wild onion, the lettuce and the potato
are the only vegetables INDUCED in.
Sometimes a hut will boast a small corn
patch, but it is hardly larger than the
patches on the masters coat. The Bald
knObbers wife sometimes makes little
money by digging Seneca root and gen
sing and tramping into Chadwick with it
to sell at the drug store.
The Bald-KnObber himself is not a
success as a financier. He makes ties at
ten cents apiece, and if he does a good
day work perfects ten or eleven ties. If
he works all the week he makes 81. But
the Simon pure Bald-Knobber does not
work six days in the week. If he comes
iutO possession of a few dollars he seizes
his gun-and no one il too poor to own
a gun in this primitive locality-and
starts off for tramp over the hills. IL
he kills pOssum, turkey or a squir-
rel he is well pleased. There was a time
when the Ozark Mountains were good
hunting grounds, but that time has
passed.
1t is not true. however, that the entire
Bald-KnOb country is given over To the
class of beings spoken of above. There
are i'm the Ozark Hills well-tilled farms
and comfortable homes. but they are not
numerous. Your guide will tell you that
''ef you see fine farm. you kin bet that
don't belong to no Batd-Knobber. Ii be-
longs to them was licked and beat.
and told to leave the country.
of much of the disorder that the
Bald Knobbers have caused. They OBJ
lect to progress. They do not like to see
active, pushing, well-regulated men
enter the country and contaminate their
children by an example of thrift and
energy. They despise the railroad.
When it reaches Taney County they will
doubtless give way to despair and realize
that Bald-Knobbing is played out. -
There is one feature about the Bald
knobbers which makes them hard
crowd to overcome. They are closely in
terwoven by marriage. There are few
families in the Ozark Mountains which
are not related to every other family in
the same locality. OF course they all
deny that they are Bald knobbers, but
they work together against the officers
of the law with an enthusiasm which is
only possible when great family thinks
il has a common enemy. But the Bald
Knob theory of existence IL gradually
losing its grip in the Ozark Hills. The
men who cut the tongues out of horses,
deprive cows of their tails. shoot hogs by
the hundreds, and posted placards ON the
trees To notify the new corners to take
their cattle out of the country as
it destroyed the game. are being
crushed To the wall by a
power which is irresistible. Civiliza-
ton needs Christian and Taney coun-
ties. and il will proceed to take them.
Christian county has as yet but 800
voters. There is room there for "A much
larger community which would till the
soil and develop a county which is not
unfertile. The BaldKnobber will have
to give way at length to the farmer.
the miner and the countless workers
which a railroad brings.
But let it not BE- thought from what
has been said that the Missouri Ku-Klux
are thorough savages. They are. in fact.
devoted to a noisy and enthusiastic form
| of religious worship. you kin hear
| 'em shoutin' n prayin' n singin' a mile
and a half away. says the Chadwick
blacksmith. Among the Bald -Knobbers
| recently arrested for the midnight muir
| der Of Edens and Green was Parson Sim
| mons, whose religious fervor is as great
as his orthography is wretched. John
Matthews, one OF the leaders OF the re-
cent raid. has an arbor near his house
where religious services are held in sum-
mer and where the Bald -Knobbers at
| tempt 70 atone for their crimes by loud
moutbed prayers and exhortatio0s.